Air conditioning unit



- H. D, EUWER 2,112,277

AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Filed May 4, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet l March 29, 1938.

CL V@@@QGQ WE/WOR Her'er fu Wer SYM M jTToRA/EY March 29, 1938. H. D.EUWER 2,112,277

AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Filed May 4, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 29, 1938.vH. D. EUWER 2,112,277

AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Filed May 4, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 MMM rromvsyMarch 29, 1938. H D, EUWER 2,112,277

AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Filed May 4, 1935 4 SheetS-Sheet 4 4Z i 52p VVE/VTOR Hererz uwer www d@ /TToR/vfy Patented Mar. 29, 1938 AIR CONDITIONINGUNll'll Herbert D. Euwcr, St.

Louis, Mo., assignor to American Car and Foundry Company, New

York, N. Y., a corporation of New .Hersey Application May 4, 1935,Serial No. 319,811

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in air conditioning equipment ingeneral and in particular to air conditioning equipment intended forapplication to railway cars or any application where space is limited.

It has been found advisable in air conditioning work to draw rather thanforce the air over the cooling or heating coils in order to avoid asmuch as possible noise caused by the turbulence ci the air as well as todecrease the power consumption. This necessitates the placement of theblower motor and blower between the conditioning coils and the point ofair discharge to the space to be cooled andi in railway .work especiallythis is extremely hard to accomplish due to the lack of available spacewhich is necessary for frequent inspection, cleaning and possible repairof the unit. Also in railway Work it becomes necessary to provide spaceto permit ready installation of the unit in the limited car spaceavailable.

Previous constructions have been made with the blower forcing airthrough the conditioning coils but such installations were noisy asmentioned above and it was almost impossible to clean the conditioningcoils without partially dismantling the unit. Other constructions have-been made wherein the blower pulled air through the conditioning coilsbut in order to make the blower motor accessible for inspection it wasmounted exterior of the unit and drove the blowers by means of a longshaft; in such a construction proper cleaning of the coils wasA almostimpossible.

It is an object of this invention to provide an air conditioning unitwherein the blower and blower motor may be placed within the unit casingadjacent the point of discharge and so arranged as to be readilyremovable from the unit in order that the space previously occupied maybe available to a workman for installation, inspection, cleaning orrepair of the unit.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a motor andblower assembly which may be swung down as a unit for inspection andmaintenance. y

Another object of this invention is the provision of a motor and blowerassembly which is 'readily removable from the air conditioning unit andwhich assembly has no direct metallic contact with the remainder of theunit.

A still further objectof this invention is the provision of a plenumchamber which may be attached to the air conditioning unit by a WorkmanWorking through the space provided for a removable blower and motorassembly.

These -and. other objects will be obvious to one skilled in the art froma study of the following description when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a section taken substantiallyat the center of the improved unit and plenum charnber;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the improved unit with parts broken away tomore clearly show the invention;

Fig. 3 shows on the right a front elevation of the plenum chamber and onthe left a section -taken through the unit on line 3--3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the hinged member shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is a. sectional view similar to Fig. 1 show- 'ing the blowerassembly swung down for inspection, and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1 showin the blower assemblyremoved to provide space for workmen.

Referring now to the drawings in which like references apply to likeparts throughout the various views; the air conditioning unit Acomprises a casing providing space for the blower assembly B; eliminatorE, heat coils H and cooling coils C. The plenum chamber or airconducting member P connects the unit with the discharge or duct systemof thespace to be cooled.

The unit casing is formed by top wall 2, bottom plate 4 having anopening therein with the metal adjacent the opening ilanged downwardlyas -at 6, side walls-8 and end wall i0, the lower edge of which isinclined similar to the bottom plate. A reenforcing member or members I2surround and reenforce the openinginv the bottom plate and provide adownwardly and inwardly inclined portion for engagement with the blowerassembly. The front plate is provided with a suitable opening for Atheconnection of the plenum chamber or any other air discharge means andwith hinge butts I4 adapted to support the blower assembly.

The blower assembly comprises a pan-shaped plate I6 provided withcontinuous upwardly and outwardly directed flanges I8 carrying rubber,cork or other vibration dampening and sealing means 20 adapted to bearon the flanges of member I2. The inside of the plate I6 is provided withmeans to mount the motor M fed by flexible cable 2| and blower orblowers 22 aswell as brackets 24 for the attachment of spring 26, theother end of which is attached to bracket 21 carried by the end wall.lThe bottom of the plate is provided with complemental hinge butts I4,supporting arms 28 and when necessary a drain conably interconnect thehinge butts, while supporting bolts 34 coact with arms 28 and bracket orother means 36 carried by the unit casing. Such a connection between theplate and casing may be properly termed movable since it permits notonly a rotational motion but also the removal of the plate. The blowerdischarge outlet is strengthened by band 38 having a ange 40 providing ashoulder adapted to cooperate with a vibration deadening and sealinggasket 42 cemented or otherwise attached to the end wall adjacent thedischarge opening.

The plenum chamber or air conducting member P as shown is of irregularcontour with the upper wall 44 curved in accordance with the car roof,as shown in Fig. 3, the lower wall 46 curved in accordance with theinterior of the car and with the sides 48 converging to thus form anout- 'let corresponding to the central duct or discharge. The end of theplenum chamber yadjacent the conditioning unit is provided with inturnedanges 50 whereby bolts or other securing means 52 may be applied inorder to fasten the plenum chamber to the end wall. It is to be notedthat this attachment may be readily accomplished by a workman reachingin through the space intended for the blower assembly.v

The contour of the plenum chamber is immaterial and may be changed tosuit the installa;- tion for which it is'intended.

The unit is shown as applied to the car adjacent the roof, betweenthebulkhead 54 and above the vestibule ceiling 56, but such a placement ispurely representative as the unit lends itself readily to otherpositions where space is limited, whether this be in a railway car orsome stationary structure.

It is readily seen that the entire box-like unit A may be assembledcomplete and easily applied to the car or other structure by removingthe pintles 32, unplugging the cable 2l, slipping oi the tube 3i; andremoving the blower assembly, thus providing sp'ace for the workman toattach the preformed and positioned plenum chamber or air conductingmember P. It is also seen that when the blower assembly is in theoperative position shown in Fig. 1 there is no metallic contact betweenthe assembly and the unit due to the dampening members 20 and 42.

Assuming the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1, it is only necessaryto loosen the bolts 34 and allow the entire assembly to swing down undercontrol of springs 26 in order that a workman may service the motor andblowers or use an air hose or other means to clean the -conditioningcoils. In case the Workman needs to make repairs which .require moreworking space it is only necessary to remove the assembly as explainedin the above paragraph. Y

While one type of construction has been shown and explained it isobvious that other constructions, arrangement oi parts and methods ofoperation may be employed by one skilled in the art without departingfrom the scope of the ap-` pended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioning unit having a casing with at least one flangedopening therein, air conditioning means in the casing, a blowerassemblycomprising a anged plate member movably connected to the casing with amotor driven blower mounted thereon having a discharge adapted tocooperate with a. second opening in the casing, sealing andsound-deadening means interposed between said anges and between saiddischarge and second opening whereby the assembly is insulated from thecasing.

2. An air conditioning unit having a casing with at least one flangedopening therein, air conditioning means in the casing, a blower assemblycomprising a anged plate member movably connected to the casing with amotor driven blower mounted thereon having a discharge adapted tocooperate with a second opening in the casing, sealing andsound-deadening means interposed between said anges and between saiddischarge and second opening whereby the assembly is insulated from thecasing, said movable connection permitting movement ofthe assembly as aunit whereby a workman may perform necessary operations on the unit.

3. An air conditioning unit having a casing with at least one ilangedopening therein, air conditioning means in the casing, a blower assemblycomprising a ilanged plate member movably connected to the casing with amotor driven blower mounted thereon having a discharge adapted tocooperate with a second opening in the casing, sealingandsound-deadening means interposed between said iianges and betweensaid discharge and second opening whereby the assembly is insulated fromthe casing, and springs interposed between the plate and casing torestrain movement of the plate.

4. An air conditioning unit having a casing, air conditioning means inthe casing, a blower assembly comprising a plate member movablyconnected to the casing with a motor driven blower mounted thereonhaving a discharge outlet adapted to cooperate with an opening in thecasing; an air conducting member having inturned flanges positionedadjacent the opening and' adapted to be fastened to the casing, saidassembly being movable whereby a workman may attach the conductingmember to the casing from the interior.

5. An air conditioning unit comprising a casing having an air dischargeopening in a wall thereof, air conditioning means in said casing, amotor driven blower arranged within said casing with its dischargeoutlet detachably engaged with the before mentioned wall adjacent theair discharge opening, and means forming at least a part of another wallof said casing to which the blower is connected, said means beingshiftable to remove said blower from its engagement with the first namedwall to permit access to the interior of the casing. i

HERBERT D. EUWER.

